After more than a decade of impressive economic growth, you would expect Indians to feel pretty good about their lives – or at least better than they used to.

Not true, according to polling data released Monday by Gallup.

The data suggests that more and more Indians see themselves as suffering. The study, which asked people to assess how satisfied they are with their lives using parameters that include health, employment and financial wellbeing, estimates that the number of sufferers went progressively up from 7% of the population in 2008 to 31% in 2012. Read More »

India’s northern state of Punjab may be reeling under a multi-billion dollar debt crisis but that hasn’t eroded the personal wealth of its policy makers. Instead, their net worth has multiplied over the last five years, making the state’s newly-elected member assembly one of the richest in the country.

According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms, a New Delhi-based think tank, 101 of the state’s 117 newly-elected legislators are “crorepatis” or have wealth of 10 million rupees (approximately $200,000) or more. The report analyzed affidavits filed by candidates. In 2007, only 77 policy makers were crorepatis. Read More »

All candidates are required by law to file a list of their assets and information about when they last filed tax returns, and how much income they declared when they did. Armchair auditors can either look at scans of the original affidavits on the Election Commission of India website, or try the National Election Watch’s easier-to-use MyNeta site. Read More »

Mukesh Ambani and Li Ka-shing may soon get new company in their wealth club. While the U.S. and western European economies continue to be in the doldrums, Asia, with its steady economic growth, will supply the next set of millionaires (and billionaires), says a new report.

But the number of fat cats is likely to grow a lot faster in China than in India. Read More »

The luxurious Mumbai home of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, is set to become a major talking point once again following allegations of irregularities pertaining to the sale of the land on which it is built.

Mr. Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., bought the land from Currimbhoy Enrahim Khoja Orphanage Trust for 215 million rupees ($4.88 million) in 2002, the reports said, adding that the deal was approved by the Mumbai charity commissioner. Read More »

Temple officials have advised the committee that is examining the temple’s hidden treasures not to open the last sealed vault of secrets, an Indian news report said.

Earlier this week, India Real Time wrote about the astonishing treasure find at a South Indian temple whose vaults were found to contain solid gold statues and golden coconuts, among other things, estimated at an astonishing $22 billion.

Like all rollicking treasure-hunting stories, the tale of the temple in the state of Kerala may just have a sequel, complete with a curse. Read More »

When a team of unlikely explorers, including former judges and temple officials, started opening the vaults of a Kerala temple last week, they didn’t expect to find gold and precious stones worth $22 billion, according to preliminary estimates.

With the findings, Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple joins the ranks of the world’s top treasure troves. After eluding explorers and archeologists for years, these were found stashed in hidden vaults, secret chambers and caves.

Here is our list of the world’s top five, plus one we wish had been found:

1. Tutankhamun’s tomb, Egypt. When it comes to treasure troves, it’s hard to beat the tomb of this Egyptian pharaoh.

Gold coins dating back to the era of the East India Company, sacks of diamonds and solid-gold idols are among the treasures that have been found in the sealed vaults of a 16th century Hindu temple, according to temple officials and news reports.

They buy luxury cars, too, but not Ferraris and Lamborghinis as one would expect. More like Honda and Toyota, says a new study on the spending and investment patterns of India’s super-wealthy. Read More »

About India Real Time

India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.